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Thursday 4 December 2014

The Battle fot Magnamund

Hi all - apologies for things being a bit quiet around here lately - combination of life, work and not enough sleep and all te other usual excuses.

Anyway, thought I'd let you know I haven't been completely idle as, among prepping and undercoating loads of minis for the Trolltooth project, I've also been very constructively spending money!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/lone-wolf-the-board-game?ref=nav_search

Yep - I've been suckered by another Kickstarter.

However it's not surprising when this one combines my love for game books, Lone Wolf, the world of Magnamund and loads of new artwork from illustrator extroadinaire - Gary Chalk!


This will be new and exciting territory for me as it's proper old school with card miniatures - and beautifully illustrated card miniatures.


The game allows you to fight out scenarios from the Lone Wolf books and whatever other skirmishes you can come up with - I've added on another set of card miniatures so I can play some of the bigger pitched battles.


The core game can be had for $50 - about £30, which is pretty good for a board game I reckon. Plus it looks like there'll be various other goodies in the form of scenario packs and other armies released in the future.

There's various other tasty add ons like a great looking metal miniature of Lone Wolf, a superb looking art book that collects together Gary Chalk's work from Lone Wolf, Red Wall and others. The new game book produced by Megara Entertainment, Autumn Snow, looks really good too.


So if you like the look of it and you've got a few quid to spare get yourself over to there - there's only 20 hours left!


Tuesday 28 October 2014

Machineries of Destruction


Ahh Machineries of Destruction!

If da Boyz are the main stay of a Warlord's horde then these infernal contraptions are the Big Guns!

Monday 27 October 2014

Savages

Of course not all Boyz can master the intricacies of such modern technologies as the Cleaver or Chain Mail. In fact some Orcs take it upon themselves to shun such newfangled gear.


For them it is a simpler world of being at one with the past, communing with nature... and then killing it in a berserk rage! Yep it's the Savage Orcs!


Orctober - Da Boyz

Yikes - Orctober is almost over and I haven't posted half of what I planned!


To make amends let me bring you all back to where it counts in terms of Orciness - da Boyz!

Where would any famous Chieftain be now if it weren't for the humble, salt of the earth, common or garden Orc. Faceless hordes of blood-crazed maniacs don't happen all by themselves you know and every horde has to start some place.

Thursday 2 October 2014

A Work of Orc

Happy Orctober one and all!


I'm sure you're aware Erny has launched Orctober once more and there has already been a plethora of Orcy articles on numerous blogs.

Saturday 20 September 2014

Trolltooth Wars: The Strong Arm of the Marr



Things are really beginning to take shape for this project now as I have assembled all the minis needed for the first scenario. If you haven't seen it yet Warlord Paul has done a great job breaking down the narrative of the story into a series of scenarios here.

Monday 8 September 2014

In Old Cathay did Hobgobla Khan...

... a call to arms and raiding decree.


Enough with the butchering of Coleridge's great poem Kubla Khan and onto another project I have lined up for 2015 and specifically Chico's Goblinoid Outcasts game he has planned for BOYL 2015.

Sunday 7 September 2014

What big double handed weapons you have Mr Wolf...

Another unit I got to finish was Golgfag's Mercenary Ogres, or the Red Dogs of the North as I've christened them. The name comes from the name of Golgfag's clan name - Rutdrogg. Kind of sounded like Ogre dialect for red dog to me anyway! And for red dog read wolf.

The original posts and background can be found here, here and a bit more on the shield designs here. I notice from the dates of those posts that it's only taken me four years to finish off the unit!


Thursday 4 September 2014

Going Commando

Don't worry - I'm not about to share with you my choices in underwear (or lack of)...


This post is in fact to celebrate another little mile stone to warm the cold and ever hungry collector that lurks somewhere in my psyche - Ugezod's Death Commandos.

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Charge of the Green Brigade!

Time to have a look at the new cavalry wing of my newly enlarged Goblinoid horde and as with any part of an Orc and Goblin army there exists intense rivalries between the tribes and regiments that make it up.

First up is Crudefell Pullover's Lite Brugayd of Wolf Riders, a twenty strong unit of the nastiest, cowardliest and down right vindictive Gobbo's.


 Can't spot them in the front line? Then they'll probably be skulking around the flanks, looking for an opportunity to kick a stronger foe while they're down or otherwise engaged.


Centre of the picture is Pullover himself - a fine figure of a Marauder Goblin. To his left is Bugler Bragget, an enterprising Snotling who's skill (enthusiasm) for blowing his horn has seen him promoted not only to the unit, but to an unenviable slot in the front rank. Having survived both enemy fire, the enmity of his fellow wolf riders and his own mount, Bragget's place as the Regimental mascot was assured!

To Pullover's right is an enterprising young spearman with ambitions of being the unit's standard bearer - once I get round to making it....


An assortment of archers and spearmen that form the bulk of the troopers of the Lite Brugayd. And believe it or not - a Lord of the Rings Warg Rider on a... Citadel Wolf.


Several more Marauder Wolf Riders make up this next group, along with the chap who seems to be a variant of one of the fanatics I mentioned in my last post - though this time with a spiked ball and chain.


Hoorah - finally a Lord of the Rings Warg Rider as God intended him - mounted on a Warg! Behind him is another loony with a ball and chain who was kindly donated, along with quite a few other greenskins, by the esteemed Citadel Collector, Steve Casey. Not sure where he comes from - I'm assuming he's a later Citadel model?



Thanks also to Harry for his excellent tutorial for painting wolves as shared by Phreedh when he posted up some lovely Timber Wolves some time ago! I must see if I can pick some of those up as mounts for the 90's Goblin Wolf riders I have as I can't stand the later plastic wolves.

Perhaps the bitterest rivalry is between Pullover's Lite Brugayd and Lootcan's 'Eavie Brugayd. Apart from Pullover being a mere Gobbo and a damned jumped up one at that, Lootcan is painfully aware of his position in the heirarchy and so takes every opportunity to lord it over his diminutive rivals - especially with Lurd Raglank and his Even 'Eaviers breathing down his neck and giving him exactly the same treatment!


Lootcan (far right) is also plagued by the rumours that he is somehow related to Pullover by the marriage of some distant cousin. Obviously for an Orc to even be rumoured to be related to Gobbo scum is unthinkable and it is a rash trooper who specualtes on the subject over the camp fire within earshot of his boss.


Lootcan's standard bearer - the standard is made up of some of the naff skulls that came with the later 90's skeleton box sets. I think they were supposed to be stuck on shields? Anyhow, painted bronze and with some liberal verdigris added I think they make a nice nod towards the Even 'Eaviers' standard.


God bless Marauder for their moulded shield designs - I really didn't have time for many freehand designs during the panic of getting ready for Boyl 2014!


'Eavy Brugayd Trooper - again with a handy Marauder shield that was very quick to paint!


Lootcan has been accused of many things by his rival, including being all mouth and no trousers - wonder where they got that idea from?



Although Lootcan likes to think of his mob as the 'Eavies, they really are just a skirmishing force of archers, although they have been known to get stuck in occasion.


The cause of Lootcan's many insecurities is, as previously mentioned, Lurd Raglank and his Even 'Eaviers. At the top of the food chain, Lurd Raglank and his boyz form the main mounted shock troops of the army.


A concerted charge from the Even 'Eaviers is a sight to behold - just preferably not from this angle!


Lurd Raglank is a hulking brute of an Orc who's incredibly low IQ means that he is on a par with, and has an uncanny affinity with his Boar mount.  The two are literally inseparable and operate as one on the battlefield, each anticipating the other's intentions in perfect harmony. Not that difficult a feat really when those intentions only include charging at the nearest enemy and eating them.


The Even 'Eaviers standard is rumoured to have been pulled off a Chaos War Altar and doubles as a pretty good double handed weapon!


The troopers who make up the Even 'Eaviers are the bigger and meaner Orcs who are stupid enough to get on the back of the rabid and highly irritable boars that are favoured as mounts.


I realised as I was taking pictures that I had forgotten to do their shields - I'll have to remedy that at some point...


I painted these two years ago - good to finally give them some company!


Detail of the shield - can't beat a flaming skull or two.


I've always been a big fan of these miniatures - the armour looks pretty outlandish on some and the helmets are fantastically over the top!


I ran out of Citadel boars so will have to look out for some more along with the few other riders I need to complete the set - this chap on the Marauder boar will probably have to be transferred to the 'Eavy Brugayd then - sorry mate!


Orc infantry up next...

Monday 1 September 2014

I'm a Gobbo!

This has to rank as one of my guiltiest listening pleasures of all time but since I stumbled across this track on Youtube (probably thanks to one of Orlygg's posts on the Hungry Troll games I might add) it has oft times been played on heavy rotation to get me through large swathes of batch painting what else - Gobbo's!!!


So here's a slightly closer look at the smaller and more wretched end of my Goblinoid horde.

Sunday 31 August 2014

The Spawning Pits have been busy!

The months before BOYL 2014 seemed to take an age to pass and as I only had a Goblinoid horde and the best part of an entire Epic Imperial Guard Regiment to paint I thought I had loads of time to get ready. I even spent a day drawing up a painting timetable, Arnold Rimmer style - which of course soon went out the window when real life made itself known!

So, of course once I had realised that I would have to up production somewhat in the couple of months I had left my painting desk came more to resemble the spawning pits of Isengard!

Or perhaps if I was being really old school - Utumno!
Well I'm glad to say that neglecting both sleep and familial duties (at least those that the wife allowed to be neglected!) for the first half of the summer holidays all the blood, sweat, blisters, fire, brimstone and everything else paid off!



Saturday 23 August 2014

Terrain Building...

1:1 Scale!



Friday 22 August 2014

Trolltooth Wars: Fielding the Legions of Zharradan Marr

I thought I'd take a moment to have a look at the rules we will be using to fight the Trolltooth Wars and what could be more apt than the Mass Battle rules published in Issue 12 of Warlock (the Fighting Fantasy) Magazine, Fields of Battle, penned by Graeme Davis.


In Graeme's article we get rules on how to make stats up for your armies as well as refreshingly simple details on the turn phase - move or fire, combat and morale. There are some special rules on cover, fortifications and siege weapons and magic is mentioned in the scenario that is provided at the end, along with movement penalties and command parties. I'm sure we can add any details to these rules by dipping into the likes of Dungeoneer or Blacksand from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy series, although with the types of troops we'll be fielding there shouldn't be much need.


Thursday 21 August 2014

BOYL 2014 - The Siege of Avalone - the Aftermath

The dawn was heralded by a watery grey light that struggled to penetrate the louring clouds and already the Carrion Crows were breaking their fast. Bleary eyed troops staggered back to the field of battle and prepared themselves as best they could.

Well that was the scene that I saw in the marquee as we arrived back for the final day's gaming anyway!

So on to the last post for the Siege game - it's been a pretty epic task just editing the photographs and writing the game up I must say!

Sunday saw a few hardy souls drag their hung over corpses back to the table to continue Round 3 of the Siege. The ranks of Generals had thinned somewhat from the crowds round the table on Saturday due to commitments to other games or having to return home. I was involved in a big Epic Game with Chico and others (more of which in the next post) but managed to pop over now and again to take some pics.

I must confess however, that I don't have as good a handle on what went on as I did for the Saturday. So I propose a bit of creative writing based on the pics I took and the main events that I can remember...

Smoke still issued forth from the smouldering remains of the great Ent gathering that had sacrificed itself in blunting the advance of the Horde. The cries of the dead and dying intermingled with the more purposeful shouts of battle-sergeants and discipline-masters as the horde carried on its inexorable advance. Many a foul, and many a noble deed was performed that day.

A second Siege Tower was brought up to the walls by the Orcs whilst the sea of Chaotics continued to surge forward behind them.



There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats

With BOYL 2014 only just finished some keen Oldhammerers have turned their attention on next year's shenanigans.

I'm rather keen on Chico's Outcast Greenskin Project even if it does sound like the name of some pretentious Prog Rock band! It'll give me a good reason to paint up my Hobgoblin and Half Orc army which would put me dangerously close to getting most of my Goblinoid collection finished!

Sunday 17 August 2014

BOYL 2014 The Siege of Avalone - the Assault!

And they're off!

Gobbo's pour over the walls into the teeth of massed Elf archery.

BOYL 2014 - The Siege of Avalone - The Set Up...

So folks here we have the preliminary post to the my version of the narrative of the Siege of Avalone.

Preliminary because I'm struggling selecting a sensible number of pictures from the 109 I took!

My version of the narrative because I really couldn't say with any confidence what was going on on the other side of the table - it was that big!

The following pics were just from me walking round the table and trying to get everything in before it all kicked off...

Wave 1 of the Bad Guys - there were more late-comers who had to pile in behind!


We can't have been far off from representing most Evil and Chaotic Races on the table.

Thanks to Golgfag for his excellent scratch-built Siege towers - I cheated and bought a laser cut Siege tower and Covered ram from Sally 4th.

The stalwart defenders and their dual line of defence.



The Evil army's secret weapon - Giant Gonads!

I think the walls were pretty adequately manned...

... and the town well garrisoned.

Nearly got it all in!

A daunting prospect - the heavily defended double gate house.


The town planners had a lot to answer for - there was consideration given to conserving the character of the town when planning permission was given to those elves!

A defender's eye view.


We decided that the attackers had secured the area up to the road as a result of Friday's game - perhaps in hindsight we could have set up a little further into the table.

A panoramic view - hence the strange chaos mutation!

My favourite unit on the defender's side - the Narnian host!
As you can imagine this lot took a while to set up - but it was great fun and took me back to the days when i would spend hours setting up the hundreds of plastic soldiers I owned into a battle scene. Back then it was customary for Sally, our old Golden Retriever, to enter the scene with tail wagging to wreak the sort of destruction that a tactical nuclear device might!

Luckily we were free from the tender mercies of rampaging family pets and had bucket loads of D6 to determine our little soldiers' fates...